WEDNESDAY, Nov. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is over, health officials say.
Wednesday marks 42 days, or two incubation periods, since the last survivor tested negative for the virus, so the DRC Ministry of Health and World Health Organization officially announced the end of the outbreak, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” CDC Director Robert Redfield, M.D., said in an agency news release. “CDC congratulates the DRC Ministry of Health and partners who have worked tirelessly to overcome challenges and bring this Ebola outbreak to an end.”
While this is a significant achievement, efforts to quickly detect new cases of Ebola must continue for at least six months, the CDC noted.
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